Essential Oil Allergy Blend: Knock out allergy symptoms NATURALLY!

The Problem

This past weekend, my little family drove 4 hours south to visit my parents in Texas. We had a great time, and the weekend went by all too quickly. I so miss being an hours drive from them. 🙁 There must have been some serious allergens in the air though because all 3 of us (myself, my husband, and our little guy) were sneezing like crazy. The hubs and Little Man also had itchy, watery eyes and runny noses. Little Man was congested and coughing constantly. My husband has always had allergy issues, and uses Lavender essential oil on a regular basis, which helps, but these were some mega allergies. We needed something stronger.

I have recently been asked my a few friends about my experiences with essential oils, what I use them for, how to apply them, etc, but one of the most frequent questions I get asked is about seasonal allergies. They are taking some form of over the counter medication that either A. Isn’t working, B. They don’t like taking/want to use something more natural, or C. They can’t give to their kids. After doing a little bit of internet searching, I came across several posts about people who use Lemon, Lavender, and Peppermint essential oils and place them in a capsule to swallow daily. They raved about the results so I figured I needed to try it! The problem with that was 1. We didn’t have any capsules, and 2. I’m pretty sure swallowing capsules wouldn’t go over so well with a 14 month old.

The Solution

I did, however, have a close-to-empty 5 mL sample vile of lavender and a roller fitment. I decided to mix the 3 oils in my almost empty vial and use the roller fitment for easy application.

It. Was. Awesome!

Little Man’s symptoms literally evaporated in front of my eyes. My husband could not believe how well the blend worked and keeps asking me for the bottle. I think I’ll have to make him his own little vial to carry around or keep in his medicine cabinet. 🙂

So here’s what you do:

Find an empty vial, and remove the lid.

Place equal amounts of lavender and lemon essential oils in the vial. Then add half the amount of peppermint. For me, this was 30 drops lavender, 30 drops lemon, and 15 drops peppermint. (I halved the peppermint because Little Man’s skin is so sensitive and the peppermint can be SO cooling that it almost burns if you use too much. This amount did not bother him at all. I would be comfortable using equal parts of all three if it were to be used only on adults.)

Place roller fitment on bottle.

Shake it up, and roll on!

You only need to use a tiny swipe for it to be effective so I’m confident that the blend will last at least a month. Hubs swipes his on his neck, over his lymph nodes. He says he can immediately notice his throat feeling better and within a matter of minutes his eyes are no longer itchy/watery, and his nose isn’t stuffy anymore. For Little Man I just roll a tiny bit on the bottoms of his feet and cover them with socks. The first day we had to reapply often, but after a week we are down to once a day applications.

I am seriously SO impressed. We will never buy OTC allergy medications again, and that makes me very, very happy!

Why It Works

Lavender is a natural antihistamine, which helps combat those allergens without making you drowsy *Ahem: Benadryl. Peppermint contains menthol, which is the main ingredient in Vicks vapor rub. It helps clear those airways of mucous and also gives the cooling affect you feel. Lemon is naturally an antibiotic, antiviral, antiseptic, and disinfectant. The three of them combined create a wonderful combatant to allergy symptoms!

Other Options

If you don’t have an empty bottle or a roller fitment, you can still use this great blend to your advantage! Use any or all of the methods below:

Rub a couple of drops each of lavender, lemon, and peppermint together in your hands and apply to the wanted areas. (I prefer not to dilute my oils, but you can dilute this blend in your favorite carrier oil such as Coconut Oil, Jojoba Oil, or Sweet Almond Oil if you would like.)

Diffuse the blend. I often diffuse lavender in Little Man’s room while he’s sleeping, but adding the lemon and peppermint would make a great night time blend.

You can drink the oils. Placing one drop of each in a tall glass of water is a great way to get some extra water AND your oils in. Just make sure that you use a quality brand of oils (I recommend Young Living hands down) 🙂

What about you?

Do you or your kids have seasonal allergies? What natural or DIY remedies help? Have you tried the lavender, lemon, and peppermint combo?

A Note about Essential Oils:

I used to be a distributor of Young Living Essential Oils, but I no longer sell them. I believe there are several different excellent choices in Essential Oil companies out there to choose from, Young Living being one of them, but each person needs to research the companies on their own to determine which company will be the best fit for their family. Several of the oils mentioned on this blog are Young Living specific blends; however, a quick google search can help you create your own blends from other single essential oils. I still use Young Living oils on occasion, but I have found Plant Therapy to also have excellent quality oils at about half the price, so I have begun to purchase my oils there instead. You can Contact Me with any questions you may have.

Hi Valerie! I have not used (or even heard of, honestly) Lorann oils, so I can’t speak for their quality, but if they work for you, I’m sure they would be fine. I will say that when I first started using essential oils, I tried a regular store brand and was unimpressed. There really aren’t any regulations for essential oils so they can slap any label on them that they would like (food-grade, therapeutic-grade, 100% pure, etc) and sell whatever they’d like. That being said, if I were you, I would just do some good research or call the company and ask questions about their distilling process, etc. When I switched to Young Living I noticed an immediate difference and was hooked! There is definitely something to say for the higher quality oils, and I will recommend Young Living hands-down every time, BUT I’m also not one of those people who says you HAVE to use Young Living. There are certainly other great companies out there! Good luck and I hope it works for you! 🙂

Hi! So glad I stumbled across your blog! I have been slowly transitioning my family of 5 from using conventional medicine to more natural healing. I find this post very interesting! I have a son who is 6 and has terrible tree allergies. We live in upstate NY and the pollen season has hit full force. My son is starting to get the puffy red scaly eyes and a small eczema like patch on his cheek because of his allergies. I’ve been trying to keep his skin moisturized with coconut oil, but I’m afraid he needs more. My question is, do you think the peppermint and lavender oils would be OK to give him since he has severe tree allergies? Thanks in advance!

HI Kerri! Good for you! The transition to more natural healing can be a long road, and it’s tough at times, but I think essential oils are a HUGE part of that process! I’m not completely there yet, but our family is working on it! Honestly I’m not sure I can answer your question as no one in my family has those kinds of allergies. I’ve never heard of anyone having an allergic reaction to essential oils of any kind, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen! My suggestion would be to try one at a time by using a small (like one drop or even just a dab ) amount of oil at a time, starting with it either in your palms or on a washcloth, and let him smell the oils. Just a tiny wiff. Give him several minutes to see if he has a reaction (Keep some Benadryl or an Epi-pen handy just in case). If he does ok with that, I would gradually increase exposure… Let him take a deep inhale of the oils, then maybe a tiny dab on the bottom of his foot, then a dab on his chest or behind his ear. If all goes well, you can start doing more drops at a time. Just go slow, and if there’s even the slightest symptom of a reaction, stop immediately and slather the spot in oil (coconut, olive, jojoba…whatever you have on hand) This will keep the essential oil from absorbing as quickly.

Thank you so much for the advice! I am hopeful your recipe helps the poor little guy out! We hate to see our little ones suffer 🙁 . Can’t wait to mozi thru more of your blog and I definitely will be checking out those young living oils. I found some orange oils in our local co op that said 100% pure and was about to purchase to make toothpaste for the littles, but then was told not to because essential oils were not food grade. Put a little damper on my project.

No problem! I hope it works out for him! Please stop back by and let us know how it goes! It’s hard to find good essential oil brands. There isn’t any regulation on essential oils yet so basically any company can slap a label on their products and call it “100% pure” or “Therapeutic Grade” or whatever they like to say. Young Living has proven itself to be of excellent quality to me so I trust their oils. I know there are other good companies out there, but I would have to do a lot of research before just picking one up off the shelf.
I haven’t tried making toothpaste yet! I love my Earthpaste, and for Little Man we still just use a finger brush and water, but that sounds like a great idea! If they like it you’ll have to let me know the recipe. When Little Man gets old enough for toothpaste I’ll have to figure something out because I think the Earthpaste will be too strong for him. Good luck! 🙂

Just an update.. Bought the oils and my son seemed to have no reactions. I noticed his skin on his face clearing up from his seasonal allergies. But then tonight dabbed some behind his ears, chest and feet, and he broke out in hives. 🙁 I’m hoping he can just inhale them and still get the same effect.

🙁 I’m sorry to hear that! I was really hoping it would work for him! I’m glad that they started to clear up though… Maybe inhaling will be enough (if that didn’t bother him) Have you tried a diffuser? If you don’t have a diffuser, I put oils in my son’s humidifier in his room at night…maybe that would help? I know some humidifiers have a special oil pad for that purpose.

I know it’s crazy tho! As soon as his face starts to calm down (and his dry skin around his eyes), he develops hives everywhere else. I’m definitely going to look into the humidifier thing. Such a bummer- but hopeful breathing it in helps because I’ve already noticed positive differences.If I do however just have him just breath it in without a diffuser or humidifier, how often would you suggest? Maybe 2x a day? Thank you so much!

🙁 Well at least its partially working? I usually only diffuse in my son’s room at night, but I leave it on all night long then turn it off when he wakes up. He doesn’t normally have terrible allergies though so I suppose that may not be good advice for your son. Sorry I’m not more help!

Thanks for this info! My children and I have been having allergy issues (hubby doesn’t seem to be bothered, at least for now). One son (4yo) asked for “pink medicine” (i.e. allergy med) at bedtime a few nights ago, since that’s what I’d given him in the past. Instead, I rubbed baby “vicks” on his chest and put a few drops of lavender oil on a cotton ball by his bed. It worked! I didn’t even know about lavender being a natural antihistamine; I was just doing the same thing that I’d done over the winter when he had a stuffy nose. I’ll have to try your blend, except I don’t have lemon oil. I really need to get some! =)

Hi Sarah! I’m so glad the lavender is helping! For us, this trio was a life-saver. We don’t usually have allergy problems (my husband has the worst out of all of us, but he still only has problems a few weeks out of the year), but that week, they were awful! We’ve all been able to get rid of flare-ups quickly and easily with this blend 🙂 All three are perfect because they’re pretty cheap, too!

Essential oils are very concentrated and potent.. if you use them, you need to learn to use them safely. Internal use should be done very cautiously after learning as much as you can about them. Children are more subject to problems with them and learning what is safe for children and what isn’t is very important. You should never use them neat, especially on children. Here is a good article for a starting point on safe use with children: https://naturalkids.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/essential-oil-safety-for-kids/

Hello, my 5 year old has horrible allergies. In fact he may be allergic to everything growing outside as well as cats and dogs. He will start school in August and I need to get his allergies under control by then. At three he was taking allergy shots, 2 shots twice a week then down to 2 shots once a week. It was way to muck for him at 3 to handle so we we decided to stop the shots and just stick with OTC meds. Now he is 5 years old and my problem is that he keeps getting real bad headaches to the point he gets sick.. Will this mixture of oil help with his headaches or is there a other mixture to take with the allergy oils?????